The new policy comes after the VCFL rejected the WDFNL’s bid to change the age group to under 17½.

Under the new system, under 17 sides can boost lists to 25 with a maximum of five over-age players. Only those turning 18 after June 30 are eligible.

League general manager Dianne Membery said the policy was crucial for the retention of players.

“The league recognises that there is a loss of players moving from the under 17 competition through to the senior competition and that this loss is having a detrimental impact on the retention of players for all WDFNL clubs,” she said.

“The league is implementing over-age permits for the under 17 competition in order to help develop football skills of younger players and players not ready for the open-age competition and to assist in the event of a club experiencing difficulty in fielding an under 17 team.

“The league will trial the over-age permit system for the 2012 season.”

Permit players must not have played representative football for the WDFNL, schoolboys, TAC Cup or similar last year.

Their names must be highlighted on the team sheet before a game and they will not be eligible for league best and fairest votes.

Once a player has played five games in reserves or seniors, he becomes ineligible to participate in under 17s.

League president Justin Balmer said the policy was about giving players confidence.

“We’re trying to keep kids in football,” he said.

“The good players will go on to Hampden or to the open-age competition, but it is the other players who might not feel ready who we’re worried about. This policy gives them the scope to play seniors but they will have the confidence knowing there’s somewhere for them to drop back to.”

The league used three years’ worth of player movement statistics and club input to create the new permit system.

Figures showed of the 264 under 17s who played in 2009, 50 were cleared to Hampden league for the 2010 season, while 41 did not play any football at all.

Last year, Hampden received another 38 players from WDFNL’s original 2009 crop, while a further 20 dropped out of the game all together.

Clubs are required to submit their permit requests at least 14 days before round one on April 7.